Arrangement: Fruit Basket Style
by CoffeeMaster16
Summary: With Tohru's mom held at the hospital due to being in a coma and lots of hospital bills to pay for. Tohru needs help and Kazuma Soma, CEO of Soma Enterprises comes to her with a solution. He will pay for all of her mom's hospital bills if she agrees to marry his son, Kyo Soma, the rich playboy who doesn't take his job or life seriously. Will this plan even work in their favor?


**Arrangement: Fruit Basket Style**

Kazuma Soma, a wealthy man in his late 40's40's, CEO of Soma Enterprises located in Toyko, Japan. He took a deep sigh as he was reading the newspaper article on his laptop while sipping his mug of coffee. The article consisted of his only son, Kyo Soma, always has a different woman every week, never staying committed and having physical fights with his cousin Yuki Soma about something stupid, but always gets slapped on an article. Kazuma decided not to take any calls and told his driver to take him to a different location he has not been for a while now. He just had to get away from the building. As he was riding in his limousine, he started once again, having that lonely feeling again and sad that his own son seems not to take his life seriously like staying committed to one lady and instead of over 20, or taking his job seriously for the family business, always spending more money than he should. The long, black car came to a complete stop, and as he got out of the vehicle, he took a deep breath and walked towards a bench while watching the ducks swimming in the pond. Before the pond stood a gravestonegrave stone carved on it was: Isabella Soma, beloved wife, and mother with the birthdate & death date. He took a deep breath and missed his beautiful Isabella, his darling wife who passed away five years ago because of cancer. 'I miss you so much, my darling. I wish you were still here with us; I do not know what to do with our son, he'she's gambling his life away and not taking it seriously. I know you had your special way for him listening to you, I wish I had your gift. I love our son, but I don'tdon't know what to do. I love you and life is not the same without you.'' He thought in his head.

"Hello, sir! Take this lily. Looks like you need it," said an angel-like voice belonging to a beautiful woman with long brown hair with two pink ribbons on each side of her head. Her brown eyes sparkle as she smiled at him giving him the flower she just offered. He took it with gratitude and thanked her. "Would you like to sit here?" he offered. She gladly took the other side of the bench as she was carrying a bouquet of white lilies.

""I always enjoy visiting out here even though it'sit's a cemetery, but it'sit's peaceful and not creepy at all. I hope that makes sensesince this place is supposed to be sadder and harder to visit for most people. The ponds help make it more at peace and inviting,"," the young girl said, trying not to be awkward. Kazuma smiled at that. ""I agree with you, miss. What is your name if you don'tdon't mind me asking?"?"

"Oh sorry! I'm Tohru Honda," she said shaking his hand. "And you are?"

"Kazuma, just Kazuma."

"Nice to meet you Kazuma! If you don't mind me asking, why do you look so sad?"

"I was visiting my wife's grave. She passed away five years ago."

"I am so sorry for your loss! It's never easy." She said respectfully.

"It sounds like you lost someone, too."

"I lost my father when I was very young, I don't remember what he looks like, but my mother always talks about him so that way I won't forget I had a father."

""Thank you for listening and sorry for your loss, too, Miss Tohru. Very much appreciated My wife'swife's favorite flowers are lilieslillies. Thank you for reminding me something my wife always treasured."." Kazuma gave her a gentle smile that reached his eyes.

""Not a problem! Oh! I actually have to go! I'mI'm late! It was a pleasure to meet you and have a great day!"!" She smiled brightly at him and she took off with her of flowers. Kazuma startedstared back the gravestonegrave stone. 'Thank you for the sign sweetie! I think I know what to do next.' He took out his phone and dialed a close friend who owed him a favor. "Can you look up a Tohru Honda? I want to know more about her please?"

"I'm"I'm sorry I'mI'm late! What'sWhat's happening? Is mom ok?"?" Tohru tried controlling her breath as she dashed into the hospital after receiving a text from her best friend, Arisa Uotani. Arisa grabbed Tohru in a huge hug. Her long, blonde hair usually is down, but today it was up in a ponytail and wearing her long skirt and blouse. ""Why does it look like you ran? Never mind that, your mom is still in the surgery room. It was scary, Tohru! Your mother seemed fine until she collapsed at the flower shop and was unconscious. Called for the ambulance right away and she'sshe's been in there ever since. That was 2 hours ago." Tohru's." Tohru's heart clenched and started praying, hoping her mother would be alright. She wouldn'twouldn't know what to do without her. Arisa and her mom both owned the flower shop and Tohru even helped out now that she left her other job and hasn'thasn't gotten another one in the past 9 months. She was thankful she was roommates with Arisa in her small apartment for a while and her mom gave her a job at the Honda Flower Shop. After Tohru graduated from college in a teaching degree and even received her master'smaster's degree soon after, she always wanted to be a teacher. She loved her first teaching job in a prestigious middle school in a small town 2 hours away from home. She tried staying there for as long as she could and she was there for a year, but had to put in her two weeks' notice due to the principal at that school. He sexually harassed her, her being too nice tried ignoring him, but he got more aggressive as the year went by and it became too much. The children were disappointed she had to go, but what shook her to the bone was the fact he tried threatening her if she left, she would never pursue her career in education teaching ever again. He would make sure she would never have a teaching job for the rest of her life. So far, his word had been true, she tried applying to different county schools and all had said no to her. So, she went back home and told her mom and Arisa about it and she'sshe's been here ever since. Nine months later and she was still working at the flower shop, not that she was complaining, she was very grateful for the job, but she wished she could teach again. She was still applying for other schools, not giving up. Her and Arisa continued to sit at the hospital'shospital's waiting room, wanting to learn more of Tohru's mom'sTohru's mom's condition. Arisa sipping on a cup of coffee the waiting room offered while Tohru praying with her head in her hands. When she lifted her head up, a kleenex was held in front of her, she looked up and saw the same man she met in her walk after getting off from work. The man she gave a lily to. He smiled warmly and she took the offered kleenex and replied with a soft thank you.

"Looked like you needed this. Can I have a private conversation with you? It won't take long, I promise." She looked over to Arisa and told her she would be right back.

"I'm sorry to come in a time like this. I couldn't stop but hear your mother is recently in surgery due to collapsing." he replied.

"How did you know that? Never mind, yes, I was told she collapsed due to working too hard. This isn't the first time this has happened, she always works too hard, ever since dad's death, she never takes a break from her business."

"Oh yes, Honda Flower Shop, right? I heard your mother's business is very popular and has great connections for finding the rarest flowers."

"You are correct. She loves her shop and has put her heart and soul into it. In the past, she has been dragged to the emergency room countless times, one time she had a head concussion, another time she wasn't eating enough and passed out from not enough nutrition. Last time she was told she had a tumor growing on her stomach, but then was told it was a false alarm, nothing cancerous. Now I have no idea what's going on or why she passed out. The doctors haven't said anything yet. I'm worried about her."

""I want to help you. Anyway, I can, whatever happens to your mom, I want to help out, however how much the hospital visits cost, surgery, I want to pay for everything."."

"I can't allow you to do that! Very nice of you, but I can take of it once I find a teaching job and I'll afford it, might take longer, but thank you for the offer, but no thank you."

"I want to make a deal with you, I will take care of all the hospital bills and test results, to help your mother, if you marry my son in exchange."

"What?" Tohru looked at him like he was crazy. Offering to pay hundreds of dollars to pay off all hospital dept her mom owed in exchange she marries his son. What kind of a deal was that? "I don't understand."

""Earlier today, my prayer was answered, and this idea popped in my head, if you marry my son, I will pay any hospital dept your mother has been trying to pay off and pay for the recent tests and surgeries. An arranged marriage for hospital dept. I can already tell you this the doctor is going to say your mom has stayedstay here overnight or however long until she recovers and each night costs $700 to stay here. Plus the surgery will probably cost up to $1500 to even $2000. Even if you get a new job, it will take longer before something else happens." Tohru's." Tohru's face became paler. He was right, it would take way longer to pay off the dept and what happened today. The flower shop was already in bankrupt, due to trying to pay off the debtdept so many times over. Her mom was accident prone and was always in the hospital it seemed. Always scaring her. Tohru had no idea about the bankruptcy until Arisa mentioned one day and she felt hurt her mom didn't tell her about this.

"I still don't know about this. I've never met your son and this seems too much."

""I know I put too much info out in the open. My dear, you answered my prayer when you came to me and offered me that flower. I'veI've been praying, looking for a sign for someone lovely and nice to marry my son and someone who is gentle and compassionate. You are the answer and I will make sure the wedding will be beautiful, a wedding you always dreamed of."."

"Is it alright if I think about it some more? This is too much right now."

"No problem, my dear. Here is my business card with my cell phone number. You can call anytime and let me know what your answer is, but please consider it." He shook her hand and left. She looked at the business card and saw his full name printed on the top of it and it shocked her. Kazuma Soma. Soma? The same as Soma Enterprises?! The biggest corporation in all of Toyko! She just talked to the CEO of Soma Enterprises! What? Why is this happening? The doctor came out with a firm expression, giving her a bad feeling.

"Miss Honda, sorry about the long wait."

"It's not a problem, Doctor Baker. Please tell me, how is mom? What happened to her?"

"I don't know if you knew your mom at one point had a heart attack 10 months ago. Well, she had another one today and that made her collapse and I am really sad to tell you this. During the surgery, your mom was in a coma state and we don't know when she will wake up. She is still in a coma. I'm sorry to tell you this now. She's going to have to stay in here until she wakes up from her coma state and recovers." Tohru's heart clenched to where she couldn't breathe. How can this happen? Not her amazing mom! 'God, please don't take her away! I need her.' Tohru prayed in her mind.

"Ok, Doctor, please take care of her. Can I see her?" The doctor nodded in agreement and showed the room her mom was staying in. She grabbed Arisa's hand as they both went to the room. Arisa hugged her closely.

""Tohru, I'llI'll take over the flower shop while your mom is here, you can always work there until you can find a teaching job. I'mI'm sorry about all of this! I wish I can help more, but with your mom being bankrupt and too much debtdept to pay off, I can'tcan't really do much, but continue to take care of the shop. We'reWe're in this together! Hana will even agree. She will try to help out between her job at the library and help us out the flower shop."."

"She doesn't have to do that! This is too much! Don't work too hard on my account." Tohru exclaimed.

"Tohru, we want to help out. You and your mom have been a big part of our lives. Always been family to us. We want to do it!" Tohru smiled, blessed to have such great friends in her life. She looked down in her hand at the card. She took a deep breath and excused herself from the room after witnessing her mom lying in a bed with tubes attached to her body and her face looking pale white, no color on her cheeks. Her heart broke at seeing this and knew she couldn't do this by herself. She needed help, more than ever. She walked towards the entrance of the hospital and took a deep breath when she made it outside and sat on a bench near the door. She took her cellphone out of her pocket and dialed the number from the business card given to her.

"Kazuma Soma speaking."

"Hi, Mr. Soma. This is Tohru Honda from earlier."

"Tohru! Good to hear from you! How are you and how is your mother? Is she out of surgery?" Tohru told him exactly what the doctor told her moments ago.

"I'm so sorry dear! Sad to hear about that."

""I wanted to talk to you about the arrangement. I'llI'll do it! I will marry your son in exchange you pay for my mom's debtmom's dept. I don'tdon't like the idea of marrying a complete stranger, but I will do it for you and my mom."." She said while her body was shaking nervously. She still didn'tdidn't know why she even agreed to this, she hated taking the easy way out, but with her not having her career job there was no way of getting out of this. She needed to do this even if she thought it was the easy way out. Kazuma Soma offered his help out of generosity even if he was using her to marry his son, she would do it.

"Thank you so much, Tohru! You have no idea how happy I am right now! I will set up the wedding photoshoot, push it to next Saturday. I will text you more info about it tomorrow about the location, time, and you will meet my son."

After the phone call, Tohru thought to herself, 'What did I get myself into?' A wedding photoshoot? That seems a bit extreme, doesn't it?


End file.
